This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment ----- Original Message -----=20 From: Tompiano@aol.com=20 To: pianotech@ptg.org=20 Sent: August 06, 2003 4:28 AM Subject: Re: Teflon Bushings, (S&S) Yes, changing their entire traditionally made action parts to the = Teflon style was a bold move. And yes, you have to give them credit for = venturing out.=20 But.... the flip side of Steinway is this ultra-conservative company = which, to this day, is paranoid (and in no hurry) when it comes = changing a lousy screw. They will test, test, and further test the = validity and durability of a screw for over a decade before actually = making the change. That being said, I still find it rather interesting how Teflon = passed their testing regiment. The problems would have had to show up = early on in testing and demonstrate that this material was going to = cause oodles of problems. Maybe during those dark years ( as Steinway = refers to it) they completely left their guard down and let things slide = a bit. Tom Servinsky=20 To understand this you have to go back a few years and consider the = shape the company was in at the time these bushings were introduced. For = decades leading up to this point relatively little money was being put = back into the company to maintain or upgrade either the facility or its = equipment. (It wasn't until the CBS buyout that the company turned the = corner and started on the road back from oblivion.) At the time the = action making machinery was in pretty bad--as in really bad--shape. = Compared to the sloppy felt bushing work being done at the time the = Teflon bushing looked pretty good. If it was rushed to production it was = probably out of desperation. It seemed a perfect solution--instant = action centers without the necessity of having to put all that money = into maintaining all that horribly obsolete equipment. Not to mention = the huge amounts of time it would take. I'm sure the company knew how to = test these things properly but they may not have had time. In my opinion the Teflon bushing was fundamentally a good idea. The = initial implementation was flawed--the small, smooth surfaced bushings = that were poorly fitted to sloppily drilled holes in poorly conditioned = wood didn't work very well in the real world. Ribbing the outer surface = of the bushing helped and increasing their diameter helped even more. = All of the various reasons for the problems of these bushings has been = hashed and re-hashed many times on this list. I'll just say that had a = method of adequately stabilizing the wood been worked out, had better = precision and quality control techniques been implemented during = assembly and had workable techniques for field service been developed = earlier on we would probably still be using them. And we'd probably be = wondering why the rest of the industry still refused to adopt them. Del ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/a7/4d/51/5e/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC